"Eyes that shine, burning red, dreams of us, all
through their heads!"
The history of the Red Death Hockey Club is long and prestigious.
The seeds for the club were planted at the tennis courts on Stonehurst Blvd.,
during the late 70s and early 80s, where after school games of street hockey
occurred on a daily basis. Using masking tape on the fences for the goals, and
always looking to check someone into the tennis net post, this was the place
where street hockey skills were honed. By 1983, the team moved to what at the
time was only the 2nd street hockey rink in New Jersey at Liberty Oak Park in
Freehold, where many summer nights were spent gnashing elbows and scarring
knees playing in the adult Freehold Street Hockey League. The battles with the
Oilers, the Hooters, and with the cross-town rival Flames, where crowds of over
100 people would be in attendance for the game, are still talked about with
reverence. The team's final season of competition was the summer of 1990,
though a subset of Red Death alumni did later play a few years in the
Goodsports Street Hockey League, winning one championship, and then merging
with former members of the archrival Flames to win another championship at
Goodsports.
This is a look back at a group of guys who partook in many before
game gatherings (Nomoco Road!), after game replenishments (Moore's Inn, Club
Hanson!), laughter, frustration, good times and bad, with fond memories of hot
summer nights, under the lights at Liberty Oak Park, sharing their love for
street hockey. Friendships made that continue on to this day…
If you would like to add your email address to the alumni list
under Career Stats, or submit either pictures or
your own special memory to "Remember When…",
send email to promano@monmouth.com.